Sleeping bag



Dec. 25, 1951 c. M. MILLER 2,579,943

SLEEPING BAG Filed Jan. 8. 194': 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1' INVENTOR.

army M, Miller O/ MM,

Dec. 25, 1951 MlLLER I 2,579,948

SLEEPING BAG Filed Jan. 8, 1947 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 n) \x 6 INVENTOR.

l ornelg jll. Miller Patented Dec. 25, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SLEEPING BAG Cornell M. Miller, Philadelphia, Pa.

Application January 8, 1947, Serial No."720,891 7 (Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as amended April 30, 1928; 370 O. G. 757) 6 Claims.

1 The invention described herein, if. patented, may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to me of any royalty thereon...

This invention relates primarily to sleeping bags and the like and to a method of manufacturing the same, butobviously. the method could, with minor variations, be advantageously employed in the manufacture of various articles of wearing apparel. i

One object of the invention resides in the provision of a sleeping bag having maximum internal lengthfor the length of material employed in its construction.

Another object of the invention consists in so constructing a sleepinglbag that wastage of material is reduced to arminimum. p

A still further object of the invention resides in a form of sleeping bag wherein the full width of the material may be used for the back panel of the bag and the width of the front panels will be increased or decreased, as may be necessary to produce a bag or other garment in an extremely simple and economical manner.

A further object of the invention consists in the provision of a sleeping bag which isso designed as to givethe desired fit to the contour of the head.

Another object of the invention resides in the construction of a sleeping bag in which the sewing operation in the head and shoulder portions of the bag is facilitated by materially reducing the aggregate length of seams.

Still another object of the invention consists in the provision of a sleeping bag or the like in which the shoulder portion is of draped design so as to give the desired flexibility and softness in that portion of the bag.

, Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is aperspective view of asleeping bag embodying the present invention;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the back and front panels of abag and showing the relative positions of the panels; and

Figures 3 and'4 are plan views, on a reduced scale, showing two methods of cutting two bag sections from a minimum amount of material.

Referring to the drawings in greater detail thenumeral I designates the back section or panel of the novel sleeping bag, and the numeral 2 designates two identical front panels.

' In the method of cutting the panels, as shown in Figure 3, the material employed is a fabric of 36" width and two back panels and four front panels are indicated as cut from a particular length of cloth. The back panels I: are therefore 36" wide and the front panels, which are formed of half-widths, are 18" wide. 1 i i In the pattern lay of Figure 4, a fabric of 61" width is employed and the back panels are indicated as formed of half-widths (30 inches) and the front panels are of quarter-widths (15% inches). These dimensions, of course, as well as those set forth in the preceding paragraph are intended to be merelyillustrative of the inven-. tion rather than limiting.

The head end of each back panel I is provided with substantially semi-circular cutouts 3 disposed symmetrically on opposite sides of the center line of the panel and adapted to conjointly form a face opening when the bag is completed. The head end-of the back panel is also preferably formed with a rounded V-notch 4 at the center line for a purpose to be described hereinafter.

As clearly indicated in Figs. 2 to 4, inclusive, the front panels 2 are of rectangular formation at the head end and are beveled or tapered at the foot end as indicated by numeral 2'. This shaping of the front panels provides a sleeping bag of the mummy type, as indicated in Fig. 1, but it will be obvious that the present invention may be embodied in sleeping bags of generally rectangular formation throughout by eliminating the tapered ends of the front panels and makin them of uniform width throughout.

Before proceeding further with. the description of the formation of the bag, themanner of cutting the several sections so as to avoid wastage of material will be elaborated upon. The piece of cloth from which the bag is manufactured (Figure 3) is assumed to have a width of 36", and the back panels I are cut from the full width of the material as shown. thereby providing back panels 0f.36 width. The front panels, as hereinbefore mentioned, are 18" wide and four of them may therefore be cut from a single width of the cloth of a length somewhat greater than the length of a single front panel and dividing the same longitudinally as indicated by the line 5 in Fig. 3 and dividing the sub-sections diagonally as indicated by the lines 6. By thus marking and cutting the cloth, two pairs of front panels are provided with the inclined ends of one pair being contiguous and disposed within the inclined ends of. theother pair. The pattern .lay of Fig. 3 shows two back portions formedby the transverse cut 1; this being done merely for the purpose of showing two back panels necessary for use with the four front panels 2, also cut from a single width of the cloth. In forming the back panels I, one narrow edge of each of them is formed with the substantially semicircular-t cutouts heretofore referred to and the roundedV-notches 4. also previously mentioned. It will thus be seen that by following the pattern as indicated in Fig. 3, practically no wastage of material is involved in the cutting of the several sections of the present sleeping bag.

The manner of cutting the panels as illustrated in Figure 4 is substantially the same as that heretofore described except that advantage is taken of the greater width of material (61 inches) by making four back panels of 30 width and four pairs of front panels of 15 width from a particular length of material and reversing the positions'of the panels, on the next length of material so as to takeecare of the extra length of-qthegfour frontpa-nels, as compared to. the back panel. It will .be..underst.ood, or course, that in thecutting. operations. .as. indicated in Figures 3 and; 4: :the. material. f rst marked. off and the desired number of superposed. layers of. cloth 7 are: cut .inaccordance with themarkings.

In. ordento. attain several. of the advantages set-forthherein, the. front panels. may. be...con.- sidered:.as .:being positioned with. respect to the back panel-t .in the. manner shown in EigureZ. Inethislrelationship, the panels 2. arespaced from the =headaend;ofpanel; l; a distancecorresponding to the width of the endsfllof. the panels, andin stitchingthebag theeedgefl maybe first stitched totheadjacentedgeof panelt, asindicated at Figure. I, and the line-of: stitching then continuedeto-Join the straight edge. of thefront paneltandtits tapered edge 2 :to the-back panel as indicated by-n-umeral Iain-Figure 1 and the arrowsof Figure 2.

In stitching theebag as just described, the corners of the head end of the back panel l-must necessarily be'folded: along the: lines l0,- thus bring-ing theredges containing thecutouts 3 close- 1y adjacent eachother. These edges may then l e-stitched together-along-the line -l3 to provide the-face opening 14. This line of stitching also includes-;thesides of the rounded V-notch l which serves to provide a fullness in the-head endofthe bag so as-to permit the head-ofthe occupant-to bepositioned more closelyadjacent the-end'wallofthe sleepingbag; thereby-per mitting the use ofbags of-slightlyless overall length than-would otherwise bepossible.

The opposite endof the panel I folded upon itselfrand the edges securedtogether by a line (pf-stitching l5,-and the bag may becompleted by theaddition Ofiaseparable fastener H; such as'a zipper to the free edgesofthe frontpanels nd he fielde ,eaeeefl meb ee ich aref pese elew he ee n n E em ne. f reeeinede erin ien taken 9nnegation withn the accompanying drawings, it will e pperen te. he e kille du e rt h tl'. h se ee e i eee a d Pre ess of men me; hieh; educ a f ,l eaminimum; netmaisi m nt al en h emmen uretee with. he. am unt of i e ter aliusedr and sh pin of he head port on a previd d; thate he'various,pane s are-of su h design anddimensions. as.;to. permit; of the minimum.u se.of material; and thatethe elimination of: seamsoine the. shoulders -,.of .--the bag :will provide.

a better draping of the material of the head end of the bag.

In accordance with the patent statutes, I have described what I now consider to be the preferred form of the sleeping bag and the process of manufacture, but inasmuch as various minor an e may b m i ede ei .s.; e tion without departingl'fromotheespirit of the invention, it is intended that'all such details be included within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1 A sleeping bag blank formed from a back pane hof substantially rectangular outline 'provided with complementary cutouts in the head endto form a face opening, front panels of substantially rectangular formation at the head end, the front panels being stitched to the side edges of; the backgpanel and each spaced from the headend of the latter a distance equal to the width of each front panel.

2; A sleepingbag blankformedfrom aback panel of substantially rectangular outline, front panels. of. substantially. rectangular formation-at the head-end and; tapered: away from. the ,back panel. atthe-foot end, the front-panels; being stitched to-the sideedges of :thebackpanel and each spaced from. the. head end-ofr-thei latter"v a distanceequaltosubstantially the width; of; each frontpaneh 3. A sleeping bag comprising a back panelgo substantially-rectangular outline front panels: of

substantially-rectangulan formation at:th&.head

the head end thereof adistance corresponding to the width o' f each of -the-front panels lines-of stitching joining; the adjacent; edges of-"the-back and front panels at the head end and adjoining portions ofthe edge ofthe head'encl of-the back panel, means for closingthe: foot- BIIdOi'" the bag, and releasable fastening; means, for joining he f ee. d es it e r n p l A lee ing eacomr i nee ck ,g ll f rectangular outline providedwith-complementary cutouts in the edge,, a t the headendpn opposite sides ofjts mid portion anda v notch at themid: pertien. ,frent.ua elsst teh dto he i eeds sof the c panel but ch peees remtbehead end thereQI a. distancev cs rresnontlin o. e wid of each of the. ront.panels,r inesfof., titehiue, i inineth edieeen ges ti he back. align-em pan s. a h .e e dl nd; here f. and the dee portions of the head end;of. the.back.panel on pposit des efltsmidenertieniandemeansee nez hee eet. udzei-ithe; se. e,AeleeWnabes c me ting. eebeek-n ef the I back: panel: it l'eQhQQltQ end-and tape leeway n the feet dizseid anelse eine the sidee deeseofthe back-panelz ntleachespaced REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

Number 6 UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Baker Aug. 12, 1879 Kaplan Apr. 17, 1928 Wallin Aug. 28, 1934 OHara Apr. 24, 1945 Robinson June 19, 1945 

